How do you simplify #abs(-23)#?
1 Answer
Mar 4, 2018
This question is asking for the absolute value of -23, or in other words, its distance from 0.
Explanation:
The straight lined brackets surrounding the -23 represents "absolute value". The absolute value of a number is it's distance from 0 (so for example the absolute value of 1 is 1, the absolute value of -1 is also 1).
So, when we are asked to find the absolute value of a negative number, the answer will be positive. -23 is 23 units apart from 0, meaning that the answer to this question is simply 23.
If you are struggling it helps to use a number line to find your answer. Hope this helps :)
